Monthly Archives: July 2012

The mountain pine beetle has methodically taken over large swaths of forest from Mexico to British Columbia. Estimates indicate the tiny rice-sized beetle attacked 3.8 million acres of forest in 2011 and it is now affecting forest fire rates. In recent years, entrepreneurial wood products companies have rolled out a bevy of “beetle-kill” products, including raw lumber, furniture and wood flooring.

Today, with Bad Beetle‘s line of consumer electronics accessories, it’s possible that the beetle-kill-mania is entering the mainstream. Bearing the distinctive blue tinge of beetle-kill products and engraved with the company’s modern graffiti-style logo (complete with a pair of devil’s horns on the pest’s head), Bad Beetle’s products fit Apple’s most popular portable products, including the iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air.

“When these naughty nemeses invade trees, they create a beautiful, silvery blue stain,” the company wrote on its website. “For the tree, it’s curtains. But for you, it’s a snazzy, insanely eco-friendly Bad Beetle accessory.”

Recently, Bad Beetle made the rounds at the Dwell on Design show in Los Angeles, and it is currently taking pre-orders.

The Mountain Pine Beetle is decimated forests across the Mexico, United States, and Canada- the beetles lay eggs beneath the bark of trees, introducing a deadly fungus. As the tree dies is takes on a unique silvery blue stain within its grains. Greeno removes these trees, protecting the survivors of the forest from infection, and processing the wood for use. Then Bad Beetle Designs takes it to the next level by fashioning this beautiful wood into cases for iPhone and MacBook. These cases feature laser engraved, graffiti style beetles for a super bad look.

One of the coolest finds we spotted at last week’s Dwell on Design was this line of iPhone accessories made by Bad Beetle out of the dead remains of trees infected by the Mountain Pine Beetle. Deemed “nature’s graffiti artists,” the beetles create blue tinted designs on the pine, making each case unique.

North America has lost more than 70,000 square miles of forest since 2000 due to the Mountain Pine Beetle. The adult beetles have a poisonous blue-stain fungus which discolors the wood and stops a tree’s ability to circulate water and nutrients. In order to stop infestation and the risk of a more rapid spread of forest fires due to dead wood, it has been recommended by the U.S. Forest Service that all dead or infected trees be logged and then burned. Bad Beetle’s response makes the most out of our forests’ beetle infestation by making one-of-a-kind accessories for mobile Apple devices. Pre-order yours today and spread the story.

So what exactly do you do with 22,000 dead trees? Ask Larry Lipson, the Founder of Bad Beetle who managed to take those 22,000 dead trees on his property and craft durable lightweight cases for mobile devices that stunningly highlight the blue and silvery streaking the beetles leave behind inside of the Ponderosa Pine tree. The culprit behind these dead trees is the invasive and destructive Mountain Pine Beetle, which has destroyed over 70,000 square miles of forest across the Rocky Mountains alone since 2000. While researchers scramble to study the beetle and find ways to curb its destruction, it’s nice to know that there are designers out there who are making the most of the otherwise tragic situation. You can take a look at Bad Beetle’s nifty Apple cases here. For more information about the destructive Mountain Pine Beetle: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/dying-forests-how-bad-is-it-really/